General Utilities Doctrine

General Utilities Doctrine means:
a nonrecognition concept providing that a corporate distribution of property to the shareholders produced neither a gain nor a loss to the distributing corporation. The shareholders were taxed on the gain. This concept was eroded after its introduction in a 1935 Supreme Court decision and was repealed in 1986. General Utilities & Operating Company v. Helvering, 56 S.Ct. 185 (USSC, 1935).